Recidivism and the Availability of Health Care Organizations

Danielle Wallace, Andrew V. Papachristos

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

27 Scopus citations

Abstract

Incarceration has been identified as a cause of poor health in current and formerly incarcerated individuals. Given the high likelihood of being in poor health when exiting prison, it is plausible that health impacts recidivism. Furthermore, ex-prisoners cluster in disadvantaged neighborhoods that are unlikely to have decent health services. Currently, there is insufficient research to examine this relationship at an ecological level. In this study, we investigate the relationship between the availability of health care organizations (HCOs) and their changes over time with neighborhood level recidivism, and how these relationships may be moderated by neighborhood disadvantage. We determine that the effect of HCOs on recidivism is indeed moderated through disadvantage: as disadvantage increases, the negative effect of losing significant amounts of HCOs on recidivism accelerates. Our results suggest that while increasing HCOs in disadvantaged neighborhoods is important, keeping HCOs in place is equally important for moderating negative neighborhood level outcomes.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)588-608
Number of pages21
JournalJustice Quarterly
Volume31
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2014

Keywords

  • health care organizations
  • neighborhoods
  • recidivism

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Pathology and Forensic Medicine
  • Law

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